I stopped watching new shows for the last year or so, because my DSL connection has so little bandwidth that using BitTorrent ties it up completely. However, one thing I have been able to do is watch streams (not necessarily HD streams, but they’ll do for watching older stuff), and sites like Crunchyroll have proven to be useful in this regard.

So what am I watching over these streams? K-On? Guin Saga? Senjou no Valkyria?

Actually, it’s something a bit older.

Yeah, it’s Hokuto no Ken. The original ‘80s TV series, not the OVAs (yet) or the hilariously bad Hollywood movie. I’m about 50 episodes in (right up to Kenshiro’s first fight against Raoh), and honestly, in spite of the inconsistent animation (it IS an ‘80s show after all), it’s great. I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to watching it, but I’m glad I did. Great fights, great characters, and overall just really damn fun to watch. Watching Kenshiro explode body parts like they were nothing never stops being entertaining.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to run up against the wall of filler that tends to infest just about all shounen adaptations at some point, but until then I’m going to keep enjoying the ride.

Quick question to anyone who’s seen the whole series – is Hokuto no Ken 2 (aka the post-Raoh stuff) worth watching at all? From scattered impressions and such I get the impression that it isn’t. That, and the artwork seems to take a turn for the worse…

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One Response to “I’m watching anime again”

The series and the continuation after Raoh’s death had been very polarizing the fanbase. Some liked seeing Bart and Lin grown-up and learning a little more about the past of the Hokuto brothers and how the legacy of Raoh and his memories lived on. In the anime, I have not liked much how it was pulled. I think that the manga was better in that regard. The second part have its ups and downs, but it is hard to match the rivalry of Kenshiro and Raoh in the first series.